More at http://www.sanctuaryasia.com | Natural History
It was in 1954 that Sir David Attenborough made his fi rst appearance on television as a presenter on the show Zoo Quest.Did You Know?Seeds of Genius
That plants are intelligent and even social has
been fi rmly established. Though immobile, plants
have devised ingenious ways to ensure that their
genes are propagated far and wide. This also ensures that
competitive pressures that might otherwise occur when progenitors and
progeny are restricted within close quarters, are alleviated. But how
do they do it? Seeds! Perfected over millions of years of adaptation,
variation, and natural selection, what we see today are mechanisms of
seed and fruit dispersal at play. Next time you come across a seed, any
seed, think about how it got there.Perhaps the most poignant example of plants’ dependence on animals for dispersal
of seeds is that of Sideroxylon grandifl orum, or the ‘Dodo’ tree. It is believed that
fruits of this tree had to pass through the gut of the Dodo for the seeds to be able to
germinate. Today, this tree faces imminent extinction without its symbiotic partner,
the Dodo, which was driven to extinction by Dutch sailors. The youngest-living
'Dodo' tree specimens in the wild are over 300 years old!Coconuts! These hardy, large fruits are perfectly adapted to
weather the seas and storms as their packaging is one hundred
per cent waterproof. Their evolutionary success is there for all
to see in their colonisation of tropical islands around the world!The sandbox tree resorts to brute force to dispel its seeds.
Native to tropical America, it carries seed capsules that
explode and launch seeds with force enough to injure a
person! The speed clocked by launched seeds has been
calculated at around 70 m./sec. Seeds have been known to
land as far as 100 m. from where they were ejected.
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